


Lady Galvin’s Chemistry Catastrophe

by tamsencen



Category: Keeper of the Lost Cities Series - Shannon Messenger
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, Fluff, Human AU, M/M, School Project, also i included tiertance bc why not, and marella actually exists, dex is the matchmaker, gradaline are the best parents, keefe is just awkward, set as if keeper 1 was in high school, so biana’s a brat, sophie foster is an oblivious bean, we hate lady galvin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-18
Updated: 2020-06-18
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:01:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24790498
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tamsencen/pseuds/tamsencen
Summary: A human AU in which Sophie Foster is stuck with Keefe Sencen for a chemistry project... but there’s a whole different kind of chemistry going on.Also, Dex and Fitz, their best friends, seem to be trying to set them up together.And Grady, Edaline, Tiergan, and Prentice are relentlessly teasing Sophie about her crush.Ah, the wonders of Lady Galvin’s Chemistry class.
Relationships: Dex Dizznee & Sophie Foster, Fitz Vacker/Dex Dizznee (if you squint), Keefe Sencen & Fitz Vacker, Prentice Endal/Tiergan, Sophie Foster/Keefe Sencen
Comments: 5
Kudos: 54





	Lady Galvin’s Chemistry Catastrophe

It was no secret that Sophie Foster despised Lady Galvin's Chemistry class.

Her class was the only class where she had to work to get straight A's, and even then, she was earning all D's, solely because Lady Galvin hated her.

It was a tragedy, both for her GPA and her pride. Especially because the only person who did well in Chem was Sophie's best and closest friend, Dex Dizznee.

"I don't get it!" she shouted in frustration, throwing her pencil on the ground.

Dex rolled his eyes, picking up a pen and carefully correcting her formula. "You know, when you asked me to tutor you, I didn't think it would be this bad."

She glared at him. "It's not my fault Lady Galvin's a terrible teacher!"

He scoffed. "Well, I'm passing, so she must be doing something right. Actually, most of the kids in our grade are passing, so I think it's really just a 'you being bad at chemistry' problem."

"At least she's not as bad as Keefe Sencen," another voice piped in from behind them.

"Oh, hey, Marella," Sophie greeted, swiveling in her chair. "Are you sleeping over?"

The petite blonde raised an eyebrow, her sky blue eyes twinkling with amusement. "I would, but I think Dizznee over there is going to have a heart attack if you don't pass your Chemistry final."

"No heart attacks in my household!" Grady, Sophie's extremely overprotective adoptive father, shouted from the kitchen, earning a swat from her mother, Edaline.

Sophie rolled her eyes at her adoptive parents' antics. "Anyways, I don't think it's possible for me to fail as bad as Keefe Sencen."

"With the way you're going? Sure it is," Dex said, pointing to the large, neon red, "F" marked on her latest quiz that was lying on the dining room table.

Marella picked up the paper. "Dang, Sophie. Even I know some of that stuff, and I don't even take that class!"

Sophie snatched the paper back from her friend's hands. "Oh, shut up."

"Hey kids!" Edaline called, peeking her head around the corner of the hallway. "I made mallowmelt!"

All three of them shot up, the chemistry formulas left forgotten as they raced toward the kitchen. Dex won, of course, being the most athletic out of all of them.

Sophie stumbled into the room, her heart racing. "Mallowmelt?" she wheezed, out of breath.

Her adoptive mother laughed at her breathless daughter. "Here you go," she said, handing her the plate over Marella's head. The smaller girl just rolled her eyes, used to the many annoyances of being a short person friends with tall people.

"So," Marella said, as they sat down to eat the sweet treat. "I heard that Galvin's doing a giant group project."

Sophie wrinkled her nose. "Unfortunately."

Dex glared at her, before turning to Marella and nodding. "Yeah, it's a partner project, though, so I'll probably be stuck doing it all while Sophie over here plays with her horse."

"It's not my fault Silveny makes more sense than chemistry!"

"She's a horse, Sophie!"

"Yeah, no duh, Sherlock," Marella interrupted, clearly amused with their argument.

Dex rolled his eyes. "Shut up."

"Make me."

Dex, being Dex, decided to respond to that by throwing the Mallowmelt spoon at her.

Sophie grinned. "Food fight!"

***

The next day, as Sophe hurried into Lady Galvin's lab, she noticed something strange about the room.

"Where's Dex?" she asked, sliding into her seat. Biana Vacker, the most popular girl in school who also happened to sit next to her, looked up, her chocolate brown hair falling nearly in a braid, like always.

"Sick, probably," she replied simply, before turning to her other side and chatting animatedly with her best friend, Maruca.

Sophie rolled her eyes. She clearly wasn't "good enough" for the youngest Vacker daughter.

"Okay, class!" Lady Galvin shouted as the bell rang. "Get into groups. Partners! Now!"

Sophie glanced worriedly at the door, hoping Dex would come racing through. She pulled her phone out and hid it in between her legs, under the desk.

MissMoonlark: where are you?

DizzneePrincess: sick. sorry, soph.

Lovely. Now, she didn't have a partner for the first day. Maybe she could—

"Excuse me?" Sophie felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to swivel around in her chair, only to meet a pair of ice-blue eyes staring amusedly at her.

"Yes?" she asked, cautiously, confused as to what Keefe Sencen, the school's notorious 'popular boy' was doing talking to her.

He pointed behind him to an empty desk. "Uh, my bro Fitz is absent, and you're the only one without a partner, so..."

Sophie froze. Was this really happening?

"Want to be my partner?"

Curse you, Dexter Alvin Dizznee, and your less-than-adequate immune system.

Unfortunately, she had no other option. "Fine," she spat, earning a raised eyebrow from Keefe.

"Feisty," he commented, his eyes twinkling.

Sophie tried her best to glare at him, but he just laughed, running a hand through his messy, dirty blonde curls.

"You're cute," he finally concluded, stretching an arm around her, pulling her in towards his chest.

Sophie felt Biana's glare coming at her from across the room, and squirmed her way out of Keefe's grasp. "And you're an idiot."

"Ah, but a hot idiot." His trademark smirk graced his face now, a clear sign that he was teasing her.

"You're about as hot as horse dung, Sencen."

"I'm hurt, Foster! I thought you were the super nice one!"

Sophie just flipped him the finger in response. "You might want to check your sources there, buddy."

***

When Sophie returned home, the last thing she expected was to see Mr. Forkle and her Uncle Tiergan, laughing with her parents on their new, pristine leather couch.

"Mr. Forkle?" she called out, confused.

Mr. Forkle was her old neighbor back in her old house, and he'd helped her a lot with the adoption process after her parents had passed. Him, Grady, Edaline, and Tiergan were close friends, but they usually didn't randomly meet up after school on Mondays.

"Sophie!" Tiergan called out, spreading his arms out for a hug. Sophie rolled her eyes, but still went in and hugged him anyways.

"Hey, do I get a hug?" said another voice from behind her, one that she hadn't heard in ages.

"Oh, hey Prentice," she greeted, giving him a small side-hug.

Mr. Forkle looked up from his novel. "Oh, hello, Sophie."

"How was school?" Edaline asked, laying a plate of rippleruffs in front of her.

"Terrible," Sophie replied, popping one in her mouth.

Grady stared at her, surprised. "Damn, what happened, kiddo?"

"Keefe Sencen happened," she groaned, laying out on the last empty couch.

Tiergan snickered. "Ooh, boy problems?"

"You don't get to talk," Prentice said, swatting his arm. "It took you, like, five years to ask me out."

"That's because you were dating Cyrah!"

Mr. Forkle raised an eyebrow. "They were dating for two of those five years."

Tiergan rolled his eyes. "Oh, so everyone's out to get me."

Sophie snickered, which was a mistake, because all of the adult's gazes snapped back to her.

"So," Edaline said, her voice teasing, "what's the deal with you and Keefe Sencen?"

Grady frowned. "Wait, what happened to the Vacker boy?"

Sophie stared at her father, confused. "Vacker... Fitz Vacker?"

"Yeah, didn't you have a crush on him?"

Sophie blushed. "In the seventh grade, Dad. Also, I do not have a crush on Keefe."

Edaline wiggled her eyebrows. "Sure you don't."

***

The next day, Sophie walked into class with Dex beside her, apologizing profusely for his absence.

"Dex, it's fine," she said, waving her hand. "I can handle him."

"No, you can't!" he replied, throwing his hands up in the air. "I'm getting extra credit in Astronomy for tutoring you! If you fail Chem because of Keefe Sencen, then I'm screwed! Screwed, Sophie, screwed! And I can't fail astronomy!"

Sophie sighed. "Look, it'll be fine. Besides, I bet he's going to make Fitz do his part of the project, anyways."

"I heard my name?" a crisp accent asked from behind them. Sophie and Dex swiveled around.

Dex rolled his eyes and said, "None of your business, Wonderboy."

Fitz genuinely looked hurt, but when one was best friends with Keefe Sencen, it's hard to tell when something is genuine or not.

Keefe, who was standing next to his friend, caught Sophie's eye and winked, causing her to blush just a little bit. Only someone who knew her well would be able to tell that she was blushing, and Keefe didn't know her like that, thankfully.

Unfortunately, Dex did know her well, and he narrowed his eyes at her odd expression. She glared at him, and he turned away.

"So, Foster," Keefe said, sliding into the seat next to her that was usually reserved for Dex.

"What's up?"

She raised an eyebrow. "The sky, Keefe."

He snorted. "Wow. How intelligent."

"Like you could do better."

Before Keefe could reply, they heard somebody clear their throat, and both spun around to see none other than Biana Vacker standing there, arms crossed.

Biana raised an eyebrow. "What are you two doing, hmm?"

For the first time, Sophie watched Keefe Sencen at a loss for words. "I— uh, well— it's kind of—"

"Working on our project," Sophie cut in, unable to stand Keefe's unintelligent mumbling any longer. "Like you should be doing."

Biana glared at her, before spinning around on her heel and strutting back towards Maruca.

"What was that about?" Keefe asked, his face still a bright tomato-red.

Sophie rolled her eyes. "You guys are sickening."

"What?"

"Are you serious?" She put down the model she had been working on and turned to face him. "She likes you!"

Keefe somehow reddened even more, now vaguely resembling the planet Mars. "She- she does?"

Sophie nodded, slowly. "Yeah," she told him, not believing that she had to tell Keefe of all people about this. "Go ask her out."

Keefe wrinkled his nose. "Okay, ew. She's my best friend's little sister, and by extent, my sister too. I don't like her in that way."

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Really? Because it sure seemed like that earlier."

"I like somebody else," Keefe blurted, before immediately covering his mouth. "I mean—"

"That's nice," Sophie replied, waving her hand, but inside, she was feeling a pull in her gut. She resisted the urge to question him about his mystery crush, though, and decided to continue working on her atomic model.

They worked in silence after that.

***

After the "crush incident," as Dex had dubbed it, Sophie and Keefe had barely talked, unless it was needed for the project. If she was being honest, Sophie did kind of miss the teasing and easygoing relationship they'd had back when they first met, but Keefe seemed to be avoiding her now, and she had no idea why.

Was he worried that she knew about his crush? Did he think that she would tell the whole school about it? She was the quietest girl in school, though, he must've known that.

"Alright, students!" Lady Galvin yelled sharply in the beginning of class one morning three weeks after the project's beginning. "From now on, this project has an out-of-school component as well! Figure it out with your partner now!"

Sophie could hear Keefe's breath hitch even four feet away from him.

"So... your house, then?" she asked, breaking the awkward silence between them.

Keefe shook his head. "Trust me, you don't want to meet my parents. They're... not the nicest."

Sophie wanted to argue, but she knew from the look on his face that it would be pointless to even try. "I guess come to my house after school, then. My parents run the Havenfield Zoo, though, just warning you."

Keefe cracked a small smile, the first one she'd seen on him in days. "Sounds like a fun place."

She shuddered, remembering the first time she'd had to take care of Verdi the lion's pen. "It gets a little weird at times."

He winked at her, a gesture that, for some reason, sent shivers down her spine. "Weird is my middle name, Foster."

Fitz perked up from behind them where he was working with Dex. "Actually, your middle name is Petunia."

Sophie couldn't hold it in. She laughed so hard her nose almost cracked on the hard lab tables, and her stomach cramped up like she'd done a thousand curl-ups. She knew Keefe was watching her amusedly, but she couldn't bring herself to actually care.

"P-Petunia?!" she asked, trying to control her breaths.

"Shut up, Foster."

***

As Sophie creaked open the door to Havenfield, she prayed desperately that neither Grady nor Edaline were home, or she would never hear the end of it. Both of her adoptive parents loved to tease her, especially about her love life(or lack thereof.) That was the main reason why she hadn't directly asked them if Keefe could come over, but instead their security guard, Sandor.

"Nice place," Keefe said, stepping inside behind her. "Government, I'm guessing?"

Sophie raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. How'd you know?"

"I'm best friends with Fitz Vacker. I know what money looks like."

Sophie nodded, dropping her bag on the floor and sliding off her shoes, along with Keefe. "So, do you want me to get started on drawing the model, and you can do the presentation?"

"Sure," he agreed, setting himself down on the couch and pulling out his laptop. Sophie pulled out some poster board from Grady's office and settled down at the living room table, ruler, eraser, and pencil in hand.

They worked in silence, save for the scratching of the pencil and the clicking of the keys that echoed throughout the mostly empty house. Soon, before they knew it, an hour had passed, and it was already 3:30.

She heard Keefe click his laptop closed behind her, a yawn coming from the other blonde's mouth. "Alright, I'm done. Need help, Foster?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. She was tempted to say no, but, in fact, she needed quite a lot of help. "I can't figure out how to do perspective," she said, slamming her hand on the table in frustration. 

Keefe laughed, and moved to sit down on the soft carpet beside her, his knee pressed to hers thanks to the cramped space. He examined the paper, his face ridiculously close to hers.

"One-point should be good for this," he muttered, his mouth so close to hers that she could hear his steady breathing.

"One-point?" she asked confusedly, fiddling with the pencil in her hand.

Keefe carefully placed his hand on top of her right hand, guiding the pencil towards the center. "Like this," he whispered, and my god, Sophie was falling harder for this boy every second he spent next to her.

Sophie could only watch, silent and still as a statue, as Keefe's expert hands guided hers to create the perfect outline, his brilliant ice blue eyes focused on the coarse paper. Long, dark lines streaked across the paper, until, in just a matter of minutes, a sphere was drawn perfectly in place of the blankness.

Sophie could only stare in shock. "I didn't know you could draw," she finally said, breaking the awkward silence that had come over them.

Keefe blushed, glancing down at the floor. "Yeah, it's not something I like to show off."

Sophie snorted. "You should."

Keefe smiled softly, his ice blue eyes meeting her brown, startling Sophie as she suddenly realized how close they were. Their noses were almost touching, and she could easily smell his strawberry shampoo, his curls dangling barely in front of her.

They sat still for what felt like hours, before Sophie decided to be brave and lean closer, closer, closer, until–

"Hey, Sophie! Cousin dearest! Bane of my existence!" came the shout from the main hall, startling both Sophie and Keefe and causing them to scramble backwards, madly blushing.

Dex peeked his head through the doorway, his eyes locking on Sophie. "Oh, there you are. Did you forget about our tutoring session?"

Sophie froze, unsure how to respond. Thankfully, she was saved by Keefe's finger-guns and shout of, "What's up, Dexy?"

Dex suddenly seemed to notice Keefe, and the mad blushes on both of their faces. His lips curled into a smirk. "Oh, sorry, am I interrupting a make-out session?" He wiggled his eyebrows. "Or something more?"

Sophie rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up, Deck."

Her cousin scowled at the name, opening his mouth to speak, but interrupted by Keefe.

"Um, I'll go then. Bye, Sophie," he called, picking up his laptop and backpack, heading to the door.

"Bye!" Sophie called back in reply, turning back around only to see Dex laughing his head off on her couch.

"What?" she asked defensively.

"Nothing," he said, trying to catch his breaths. "You two are the cutest. Never thought you'd land the hottest guy in school, but here we are. Also, when did you get upgraded to Sophie and not Foster?"

Sophie raised an eyebrow at his statement, but decided to ignore it. "We're not dating," she said, though it was more to reassure herself rather than him.

Dex rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but he likes you, Sophie! And you like him back! So just ask the guy out already!"

Sophie sighed. "Alright, fine. Maybe."

"By next Wednesday." Dex's smirk was spread wide across his face now; he knew exactly what he was doing.

"Or what?"

"Or your hair is going to mysteriously turn neon green on Thursday."

Sophie sighed, she really didn't have a choice in the matter. "Fine."

***

The next week went by fairly quickly, with both Keefe and Sophie spending their days and nights on the project, each wanting to impress the other. In fact, Sophie had completely forgotten about the dare, until Dex reminded her that Wednesday afternoon, as the two were walking down the street to the ice cream shop to meet their partners.

"Did you ask him yet?" Dex asked.

Sophie stared at him, confused. "Ask who what?"

Dex rolled his eyes. "The dare? From last week?"

Sophie cursed. "So that's what I was forgetting."

"Yeah, so you better ask him now, 'cause your hair would not look good in neon green."

Sophie rolled her eyes, though inside she was freaking out as they approached the ice cream shop. Normally, she would've just let Dex dye her hair(she, unlike Keefe, didn't care that much about her appearance), but this dare felt a lot more... personal. Besides, if Sophie didn't do it, Biana definitely would. And Sophie wasn't sure she could live with herself if Biana Vacker started dating the guy she was crushing on.

Honestly, her life felt almost like a sitcom now.

As the two of them entered the shop, she immediately spotted the pair of teal eyes in the corner, ice blue right beside them.

"Foster!" Keefe shouted, running towards her with his triple-chocolate ice cream in his hand.

Sophie blushed, but still rolled her eyes. "Hey, Keefe," she greeted, trying to ignore Dex's smirk.

The four of them spent a few minutes talking before Dex and Fitz broke away to talk about their project, seeing as they hadn't even started it despite the project being due the next day. Sophie tried to seem calm as she licked her cheesecake-flavored ice cream, though she was anything but.

"Foster, you good?" Keefe asked, staring concernedly at her. "You seem nervous."

"I– well, um, you see, uh..." Sophie knew she wasn't making any sense, but she couldn't figure out how to tell him straight.

Keefe raised an eyebrow, though his eyes twinkled with amusement. "Ookay then..."

Sophie took a deep breath. "Iwaswonderingifyouwantedtogooutwithme."

He stared at her, confused. "What?"

"Um, I was wondering if you wanted to... well, you know, go out, like, on a date?" Sophie looked away, not knowing if she was able to stand a rejection.

It was silent for a moment, and Sophie's world went still, the ticking of the clock ringing in her ears as she waited patiently for an answer.

She glanced back at Keefe, only to see his piercing ice blue eyes staring intently at her, a smirk playing on his soft pink lips.

"Did the great Mysterious Miss F just ask me, the lowly Keefe Sencen, out on a date?" he finally replied, his cheeks now almost magenta.

"Is that a no?"

Keefe laughed, his curls bouncing around his perfect, tan face. "I've been in love with you since the day we met, Foster."

"W-what?"

"That's a yes, in case you somehow didn't get that."

"Wait, really?"

Keefe winked, reaching over the table and brushing a stray strand of her hair away, his finger tracing her cheek. "It's a date, Foster!"

**Author's Note:**

> i might do a part 2 with fedex, idk. also, that tiertance scene was completely unnecessary but i did it anyways so ha. i apparently am not capable of writing a heterosexual relationship without including gay ones.  
> ah, well. i’m a disaster bi anyways.


End file.
